Murder For Two

There's a saying in the theater that if you see a gun in Act One then said gun must be used in Act Three. Similarly, if your stage contains two or more doors you can expect to see a farce. And "Murder for Two" is a fiendishly funny farce, but it's much more than that.

There's something for everyone to enjoy in "Murder for Two." There's original music (even catchy tunes) for musical fans. There are hilarious slapstick hijinks for the comedy crowd. The show features a tour de force performance that will slay all. And there's a clever whodunit for mystery aficionados. And if you happen to have been, ahem, that geeky high school boy in the band and theater class who took dance lessons, listened to Broadway musical cast recordings and always had his nose in an Agatha Christie paperback mystery, "Murder for Two" is nirvana.

The AT&T Performing Arts Centers kicked off its second season of the Off Broadway On Flora series with the two-man vaudevillian "Murder For Two," an overflowing grab bag of musical comedy whodunit entertainment.

In "Murder for Two," Officer Marcus arrives at a surprise birthday party for a famous novelist who is found dead, shot through the head. When he's told that the nearest detective is an hour away, Marcus, who has his sights set on becoming a detective himself, decides to solve the case before the real detective arrives.

The plot is positively dripping with all the customary Christie components. The remote estate setting. The locked room mystery. A houseful of colorful suspects and motives. The amateur sleuth who appears out of nowhere. Even the succinct and clever, unpretentious title. Not to mention the blatant spoken lines by the characters referring to Christie's "Ten Little Indians" including a nearly 80 year-old spoiler.

But the plot is merely a platform for the two actors who appear in the play. One actor plays the detective Marcus, the comical straight man to the other actor that plays all (nearly a dozen) of the suspects.

"Murder for Two" was a big hit Off-Broadway and was originally written and performed by Joe Kinosian (who has written the music) and Kellen Blair (who also wrote the lyrics.) Kinosian revived the suspect role in the Dallas run while Ian Lowe appeared as Marcus.

All due respect to the fine Lowe, but "Murder for Two" is a Kinosian showcase. The versatile Energizer-bunny like Kinosian wows the audience, jumping effortlessly from one suspect to another providing each with a distinct personality and voice. It's obvious he's logged a lot of time in a dance studio stretching his rangy frame into comical ballet positions and performing a brief tap routine on his knees.

The rapid fire "Murder for Two" only runs 90 minutes and without intermission. But you'll be exhausted from howling at all the merry and madcap murderous mayhem.

"Murder For Two" ran through September 26 at The Dallas City Performance Hall, 2520 Flora Street in Dallas. For information or tickets for upcoming productions in the Off Broadway On Flora series, call 214-880-0202 or visit www.attpac.org